Lonely Flame
by Cess-ball
Summary: First-person POV through Terra's eyes focusing on one aspect of her emotional turmoil. This takes place between the meeting of the three groups with Banon at Narshe and the multi-party battle before reaching the frozen Esper on the mountain cliff.


Author's Note: While I am sure that something along this line has been regarded some time in the past (after ten years, I can't be the only one, here), I promise I didn't take the idea from someone else. Therefore, all similarities to other stories are coincidental. (Like those tags on movies. ^^; ) Also, I do not own Final Fantasy VI / III (American SNES version), so .... yeah. I just don't  
  
And, randomly, despite how much it may SEEM like it's romancy, it's not. Well, it's not supposed to be. Interpret it however you like, I guess. ^^  
  
~~~~~~~~~~ Lonely Flame ~~~~~~~~~~  
  
He walked in with her. She looked perfect. Her hair was long, straight, silken, fine. It was the color of sunshine, and quite unlike my own short, wavy mop. She was beautiful. Even I, who was still trying to understand the world, could see that. Her eyes were luminous, full of strength and controlled emotions, infinitely more captivating than the sad pools I claimed as my own.  
  
My hair and eyes marked me as an outsider. Hers marked her as an angel. She had a name to match, Celes.  
  
Everything from the tap of her boots to the gentle slope of her nose carried a sense of poise that I admired, then. I wondered if she'd like me, this new female. Besides me, she was the only other. I wanted to ask her so many questions that I hadn't been able to ask anyone else, thinking they wouldn't understand or would just laugh at me.  
  
I didn't have long to examine her, though. The formal man, Cyan I think, made a move to attack her on the grounds that she was an imperial general, pushing the gangly boy dressed in animal hides, Gau, into me. As I picked myself back up, familiar fear flashed through my heart, I had been a soldier to the Empire. I knew I had done terrible things, there were whispered rumors about me everywhere I turned.  
  
Celes seemed to hold no such fear. She accepted who she was without question, but Locke quickly jumped to her defense. He was always so sweet and thoughtful. I felt a knot tie in my stomach, something I didn't understand at all. I felt like crying, but I couldn't figure out why. Then, strangely, when I listened to his declaration to protect her the knot pulled tighter, and my vision blurred a little.  
  
I tried to ignore it, stepping forward and announcing my own involvement as an imperial officer. Cyan looked like he was going to make a move at me. I felt my stomach twist, I thought in fear, though all I could think was, 'No one wants to claim protection over me.' Cyan pulled himself up short a split-second later, anyway, so it hadn't even mattered. Edgar gave a diplomatic attempt to reason with Cyan by explaining that just because the Empire was evil, not all of its people were.  
  
After that ... it all happened so quickly, the announcement that the enemy was coming, the decision to go up and defend the frozen Esper ... and then we were climbing with me bringing up the rear. Some part of me realized that it was cold, but I was too pre-occupied to notice much.  
  
"Wait for me," he had said. But he had forgotten about me in place of someone better. I was so alone .... Who would there be to turn to when the world overwhelmed me, now, especially if my meeting the Esper didn't bring the results everyone so desperately hoped for? Were all of his claims that there were people who cared for even me false?  
  
I felt my eyes mist over, again, and I tripped on something. A rock, maybe. I didn't fall, though. Instead, I was caught in warm arms.  
  
"Are you all right?" Locke's concerned face hovered above mine.  
  
"I'm okay." I hoped that the swirling snow had hid my tears from his steady gaze. "I'm just cold, I guess. And a little anxious."  
  
Locke smiled, "Yeah, it is cold. But don't worry about the Esper, even if you can't communicate with it, no one will think you've failed," he murmured reassuringly, obviously recognizing the watery quality that the tiny flurries failed to veil.  
  
I smiled hesitantly, and suddenly there was a warmed jacket resting on my painfully cold shoulders and draping comfortingly around my entire upper body. I automatically pulled it closer, even while trying to decline out of concern, "But then you'll get cold. I feel bad letting you freeze just because I don't have a -"  
  
I was cut off by a low chuckle. I blinked up into his smiling eyes. "Just keep it until we have time to stop and I can dig you up a blanket, then. We shouldn't let them get too far ahead."  
  
And just like that, he was gone, moving forward despite his lost insulation. I huddled myself further into his jacket. So he still did care, he remembered me! The knot from before untied itself in relief. "Thanks, Locke. You're always there for me," I whispered to his retreating back before hurrying to catch up, myself.  
  
When I had gotten back with the group, I was confronted by the angel. "So, you were born with magic. Lovely gift, isn't it?"  
  
I was completely taken aback. "Y-you can use magic, too?" I stammered.  
  
She flashed me a half-smile, "I was artificially infused with magic as a baby and raised as a Magitek Knight." And suddenly we weren't as different as I had first thought. Maybe I wasn't so alone.  
  
A thought struck me. Through the short time that I had been able to observe people in South Figaro, I had witnessed displays of different kinds of love. I had identified family, friends, and the love between a couple. I knew I cared for my companions, but I was scared that I couldn't feel love the same way everyone else did as a price for my ... abilities. But if she could use magic, too, maybe Celes would know.  
  
I decided to ask, "Have you ever ... loved anyone?"  
  
I was disappointed when all I got in response was confusion. "Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" she frowned questioningly at me.  
  
It was like a new rift had formed just as quickly as the old one had vanished. So I was still alone. I was still a freak. I looked down as my eyes started tearing up yet again, ashamed. I fell back again, considering what I had gotten myself into...  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
A.N.: This was, really, the first fan fiction that I ever actually completed instead of just planning, starting, and losing interest. ^^; I wrote it in about an hour and a half when I was bored and inspired to do something. So, in case you're like me and are going, "Lousy plot development, 7th grade vocabulary, but good for a casual read," that may be why. 


End file.
